Elisabeth Jeremko

In the Library of Babel, I found that the story had many inspirations or ideas adopted into the story. These included Borges’ non-fiction essay, “The Total Library”, the ideas of Lasswitz and other mathematicians, and “The Tower of Babel” story in Genesis 11 of the Old Testament. Much can be said about the story’s meaning just through the mere title, since it referencing the biblical story that has a moral admonishing the superiority and over-loftiness of humans to think they can know all. Like the biblical Babel attempting to reach the Heavens, the vast Library and its hexagonal set-up allows concepts of infinity, available knowledge, order versus chaos, and man versus God to all be addressed and explored. In the story, the “imperfect librarians” all come up with theories on how the books should be read or why they are difficult to comprehend and compile. Some took actions against this vastness, trying to employ human control over that which is boundless. A god would be the “Book-Man” where one book would explain everything. I think these theories and actions can be related to religious doctrine or philosophical/scientific explanations made by humans in real life. It is not possible for humans to comprehend or realize perfect order and balance within everything. Thus, the librarians’ theories do not really mean much, when the reader is presented with just how vast and ever-reaching the library really is. I am still confused about what the books represent, exactly. Also I wonder if Borges’ real life views show up through the narrator. A very intriguing but small detail was the mention of the mirror that makes the Library seem not infinite. I wonder why a mirror would do this, according to Borges?